Men and Women’s Tennis Struggle Early in the Year

James Haupt Staff Writer

This past weekend, the men and women’s tennis teams continued their spring seasons, traveling through the East Coast for their fi rst and second matches of the spring.

The men’s team opened up play with a tough loss against a well-rounded Drexel squad in their spring opener. It then traveled to Delaware, hoping to win against the experienced Blue Hens last Sunday, but it unfortunately suff ered another big loss despite a competitive outing.

The women’s team bounced back from a loss against Princeton last week with its fi rst victory of the season, over Morgan State.

Although it is not ideal to start a season 0-2, there is plenty of optimism for the men’s team. The fi nal score of 6-1 against Delaware does not accurately refl ect on how well the team performed.

The fi rst team point went to the Blue Hens, as they swept the Wildcats doubles teams, but the promising freshman team of Tighe Brunetti and Cooper Gordon narrowly lost 7-5 after both coming off illnesses the previous week.

Junior captain Josh Robinson played with junior Noah Winton, taking another close loss.

Sophomores Trey Fourticq and Ryan Nguyen lost, 6-2, against a tough Delaware duo.

However, the singles match proved to be successful for the Wildcats as Tighe Brunetti won in two sets by scores of 6-4 and 6-2, making him a bright spot for the Wildcats on Sunday. Head men’s coach Brad Adams noted how Sunday was “a bit step up from Drexel.”

“Obviously I wanted a win, but I loved to see how the team bounced back,” he said. The men are now looking to turn their season around this coming weekend, February 4th, at Bucknell.

The women’s team was a diff erent story this past Sunday as it secured their fi rst victory this season, with a commanding 5-2 win over Morgan State.

The win didn’t come easy, as the Wildcats started the day off by losing all their doubles matches. Coach Steve Reiniger noted that this “wasn’t their normal doubles teams.”

“I tried to get everyone in and avoid running players into the ground this early [in the season],” he said.

However, the Wildcats were able to pick up the intensity, going 5-1 in singles matches. Junior Emma Brogan was the number one in the singles. She won in three sets to start the successful singles performances.

Another notable victory in singles was from freshman Emi Callahan. According to Reiniger, Callahan was recently moved from the fourth spot up to the third after her performance against Princeton, cruising through her opponent in two sets, 6-1 and 6-3.

This was overall a strong performance for the Villanova women’s tennis team which left Reiniger satisfi ed. Prior to the season, Reiniger’s message to the team was to “play meaningful sets and be match ready.” It seems like the Wildcats listened with this huge bounce-back win.

The women will now look to pick up their second win of the season on February 4th, as they head to New Jersey to take on New Jersey Institute of Technology.